Who was the mysterious pilot hanging around the flight room. What did he want? No one really knew. Then one day Captain Albacore collapsed. As a fellow pilot, someone was duty bound to visit him in the hospital and I drew the short straw. But I wasn’t prepared for the request he made of me, or how that request would turn out. Read this short, but creepy tale to find out who Captain Albacore is and what he wants. Ages 9 and up. Educational Versions have exercises designed to meet Common Core standards. LearningIsland.com believes in the value of children practicing reading for 15 minutes every day. Our 15-Minute Books give children lots of fun, exciting choices to read, from classic stories, to mysteries, to books of knowledge. Open the world of reading to a child by having them read for 15 minutes a day.

The scarecrow in the Williams’s field was certainly scary, and not just to crows. Bobby couldn’t say why exactly he found it as scary as he did. He just did. He told himself it was only some material filled with straw, but avoided going near it, all the same. He preferred it if he didn’t have to even think about it. The scarecrow had been there forever, or so it seemed. It had certainly been there as long as he’d been around, and as far as Bobby was concerned that was forever enough. Find out what happens when Bobby is forced to go into the cornfield and face the scarecrow in this short but creepy tale. Ages 9 and up. Educational Versions have exercises designed to meet Common Core standards. LearningIsland.com believes in the value of children practicing reading for 15 minutes every day. Our 15-Minute Books give children lots of fun, exciting choices to read, from classic stories, to mysteries, to books of knowledge. Open the world of reading to a child by having them read for 15 minutes a day.

It wasn’t fair! Why should Colin spend an entire week at his Aunt Kate’s house picking apples when she won’t even buy him a candy marble! Well, if life wasn’t going to be fair to him, he didn’t care about being fair. Colin cut out right after lunch and headed for the local cemetery down the road. He explored around, and stumbled upon a crypt with the bones of those long dead. That’s when he came up with a plan to get the money he needed for the candy marble. It only cost two dollars, but this would turn out to be the most expensive candy marble Colin ever thought of buying! Find out what happens when Colin raids the crypt of an old hag. Ages 9 and up. Educational Versions have exercises designed to meet Common Core standards. LearningIsland.com believes in the value of children practicing reading for 15 minutes every day. Our 15-Minute Books give children lots of fun, exciting choices to read, from classic stories, to mysteries, to books of knowledge. Open the world of reading to a child by having them read for 15 minutes a day.

This was our last chance. I know that my wife thought this was a folly at first, but tomorrow she would see how right I was. Tomorrow a lot of our dreams would come true. Let me give you a bit of background. I had been a normal working slob my whole life. I was unhappy at my job as an accountant, but I was even unhappier when I got laid off. It wasn’t my fault I wasn’t working anymore. The economy was bad and there weren’t as many businesses that needed auditing and bookkeeping. I was sick and tired of being at the mercy of someone else, so I decided to go into business for myself. Since I knew there wasn’t enough work for accountants, I decided I needed to do something new. Find out what happens when the author buys a vineyard and begins making wine. Ages 9 and up. Educational Versions have exercises designed to meet Common Core standards. LearningIsland.com believes in the value of children practicing reading for 15 minutes every day. Our 15-Minute Books give children lots of fun, exciting choices to read, from classic stories, to mysteries, to books of knowledge. Open the world of reading to a child by having them read for 15 minutes a day.

Who was the mysterious pilot hanging around the flight room. What did he want? No one really knew. Then one day Captain Albacore collapsed. As a fellow pilot, someone was duty bound to visit him in the hospital and I drew the short straw. But I wasn’t prepared for the request he made of me, or how that request would turn out. Read this short, but creepy tale to find out who Captain Albacore is and what he wants. Ages 9 and up. LearningIsland.com believes in the value of children practicing reading for 15 minutes every day. Our 15-Minute Books give children lots of fun, exciting choices to read, from classic stories, to mysteries, to books of knowledge. Open the world of reading to a child by having them read for 15 minutes a day.

Stories, essays, poems, and personal reminiscences from the sage of Lake Wobegon When, at thirteen, he caught on as a sportswriter for the Anoka Herald, Garrison Keillor set out to become a professional writer, and so he has done—a storyteller, sometime comedian, essayist, newspaper columnist, screenwriter, poet. Now a single volume brings together the full range of his work: monologues from A Prairie Home Companion, stories from The New Yorker and The Atlantic, excerpts from novels, newspaper columns. With an extensive introduction and headnotes, photographs, and memorabilia, The Keillor Reader also presents pieces never before published, including the essays “Cheerfulness” and “What We Have Learned So Far.” Keillor is the founder and host of A Prairie Home Companion, celebrating its fortieth anniversary in 2014. He is the author of nineteen books of fiction and humor, the editor of the Good Poems collections, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

RULE 12 Don't fight with younger people, even if you're right, which you probably are. When they tell you outrageous things, say, "That's very interesting, I'll have to think about it." These people will be writing your obituary, and why give them a reason to put "contentious" or "embittered" in the second paragraph or accusations of cultural appropriation or insufficient anger at power imbalance. If you enjoy dispute, go after your elders if you still have any who are of sound mind. Poke them in the stomach. This will amaze them, seeing as everyone else pities them to death, and they will relish combat and rise to the challenge and it will improve their respiration. And a day later they'll forget the whole thing.

Here is a book as joyous and painful, as mysterious and memorable, as childhood itself. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings captures the longing of lonely children, the brute insult of bigotry, and the wonder of words that can make the world right. Maya Angelou’s debut memoir is a modern American classic beloved worldwide. Sent by their mother to live with their devout, self-sufficient grandmother in a small Southern town, Maya and her brother, Bailey, endure the ache of abandonment and the prejudice of the local “powhitetrash.” At eight years old and back at her mother’s side in St. Louis, Maya is attacked by a man many times her age—and has to live with the consequences for a lifetime. Years later, in San Francisco, Maya learns that love for herself, the kindness of others, her own strong spirit, and the ideas of great authors (“I met and fell in love with William Shakespeare”) will allow her to be free instead of imprisoned. Poetic and powerful, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings will touch hearts and change minds for as long as people read. “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because Maya Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous dignity.”—James Baldwin From the Paperback edition.

"This book combines text and image to reveal the real-life origins of the place where "the women are strong, the men are good-looking and the children above average." Keillor meditates on the enduring culture of the county and on the years he spent there as a young writer and an outsider. And a short story of Lake Wobegon, "October," appears here for the first time in print."--BOOK JACKET.

ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE’S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME • NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A modern-day classic from Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli, this beloved celebration of individuality is now an original movie on Disney+! And don't miss the author's highly anticipated new novel, Dead Wednesday! Stargirl. From the day she arrives at quiet Mica High in a burst of color and sound, the hallways hum with the murmur of “Stargirl, Stargirl.” She captures Leo Borlock’ s heart with just one smile. She sparks a school-spirit revolution with just one cheer. The students of Mica High are enchanted. At first. Then they turn on her. Stargirl is suddenly shunned for everything that makes her different, and Leo, panicked and desperate with love, urges her to become the very thing that can destroy her: normal. In this celebration of nonconformity, Newbery Medalist Jerry Spinelli weaves a tense, emotional tale about the perils of popularity and the thrill and inspiration of first love. Don’t miss the sequel, Love, Stargirl, as well as The Warden’s Daughter, a novel about another girl who can't help but stand out. “Spinelli is a poet of the prepubescent. . . . No writer guides his young characters, and his readers, past these pitfalls and challenges and toward their futures with more compassion.” —The New York Times